Steeljaw Scribe

Welcome to Marseilles!

SJS,
So since I last wrote you I was in Rhodes Greece. Since then about a week has elapsed and we have operated with the French Naval Air Force, being a flex deck for them to get some carrier quals in with their E-2’s and Rafales. A couple of the Rafales landed onboard [...]

SJS,

So two carriers or one? I can’t say, don’t know, and even if I did can’t talk about it. That being said, the media and some of their retired talking heads are playing up something out of nothing. We traded off with our relief and am now out in the IO cruising around Gonzo Station. [...]

Today’s postcard from Southern is a look at another side of life at sea and one that’s not always pleasant - the enforcement of good order and discipline. The further up the leadership chain one finds onself, the greater the expectations are for standards of conduct and professionalism - and the greater the penalties [...]

Twenty-four/seven. No phrase better describes life aboard a deployed carrier than 24/7. No matter the time of day, somewhere on the floating, restless city something is going on. Come April, PBS will air what looks to be an excellent 10-hr series of life aboard the Nimitz 4, filmed during the entirety of [...]

So - life as a Sailor in this modern Navy — you’ve caught glimpses here and at other spots like Lex’s, Pinch, and Yankee Sailor. But that’s the view from Officer Country. Southern logs in this week with some thoughts across a wide-range of topics from the enlisted POV. We’ve said it [...]

Deployed correspondent Southern Air Pirate drops in with another post from the Truman CSG with notes from the post-Christmas period, dust-up in the Straits and observations of trying to work orders deployed. We well remember the latter, especially back in the day when one’s tools consisted primarily of waiting until pulling into Naples to [...]

One of our long-standing family traditions we have had to forego since moving to Occupied Territory from Hampton Roads some few years back was the drive down to the carrier and destroyer-sub piers at the Norfolk Naval Base after evening service on Christmas Eve.  There we’d see all manner of creative talent put to display, [...]